A frequent form of ThatOneBoss that tends to appear in {{RPG}} or {{Metroidvania}} games.

This quick riser shows up well before you've acquired most of your standard abilities, {{Heart Container}}s, or [[HealThyself sources of healing]], and has to be fought with the bare minimum of firepower and health. The boss may or may not actually be all that powerful in-and-of-itself, but followers of this trope are made more threatening by your character's lack of all but the most basic abilities/equipment/party members.

If only it showed up an hour later, you'd have the upgrades to beat it handily (and an hour from now, [[DegradedBoss you just might]]). For now, however, be prepared to either dig in your heels to battle [[WarmupBoss Knight of Slight Peril]] with your [[WithThisHerring Pointy-Stick-Of-Mild-Discomfort]] or to [[SaveScumming run back to your save file]]. But don't worry, ItGetsBetter.

If, however, you luck out and find a DiscOneNuke (or you're determined enough to level grind for long enough), the early bird boss will be about as difficult as an ordinary mook, or possibly even TheGoomba.

Companion trope of WakeUpCallBoss. Subtrope of EarlyGameHell.

----!!Examples:* In ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', the Big Daddies are at their hardest at the beginning of the game, when you have fewer, less upgraded weapons and plasmids. These fights get much easier upon obtaining more of these, to the extent that the crossbow (with trap bolts), grenade launcher (with proximity mines) and trap plasmids mean that you may not even have to directly fight them at all.** ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' averts this a bit by giving you Trap Rivets for the Rivet Gun—which function like weaker versions of the previous game's Trap Bolts—at the beginning of the level where you first encounter enemy Big Daddies.* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' uses this trope in the ship battle against [[LadyOfWar Admiral Belleza.]] There are only two ship fights (both of them easy as hell and meant for figuring out the system) up to this point, along with little ship weapons and armor available to buy; this fight is tough because beforehand, there is a required HopelessBossFight against [[HumongousMecha Recumen]] that can leave your items and healing magic depleted and your health dwindled. As if those weren't enough, Belleza's ship has high health, is evasive, and can cast attack magic, which the player cannot do at that point in the game.** The ''Legends'' "Wanted" boss battles, as well as the BonusBoss fights against Piastol are all difficult. Both Piastol's first battle and the "Wanted" boss battle against Rupee and Barta are available early on, and both are hell for players who don't prep beforehand. The former has the Eterni instant death spell, an absurdly powerful S-attack, and is assisted by a hound-type creature who can cast Noxus (mass-poison spell). The latter is a standout example of [[ShootTheMedicFirst ''not'' shooting the medic first]] - Rupee exists to heal and buff Barta (himself ridiculously powerful), but if you try to take out Rupee first, he'll literally go berserk and use an S-move that will instantly kill you unless you're guarding. Worse yet, unlike the other bosses in the game, Piastol and the Wanted battles ''[[LevelScaling increase their levels along with yours]]''. It's actually a ''better'' idea to take them on as early as they're available, because they level up right with you.* The Shadow Yukiko battle in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' qualifies in a few ways. Decent Persona at this point require a good amount of metaknowledge (that is, GuideDangIt or previous experience with SMT games) to gain. You cannot [[LevelGrinding level up efficiently]] because you can't heal SP outside of rare items and Arcana Chance events without wasting a day (a finite resource in the entire game) at this point in the game. You have no real healer yet unless you know what you're doing and get the MC a Persona able to do it[[note]]A player who knows what they are doing can get a Slime, keep it active so it levels up and learns both Resist Physical and Red Wall, then fuse it into an Archangel or Senri (latter preferred due to negating Fire) and level that up a few times for Media (mass heal spell). In other words, knowing exactly what you are doing from the very start of the game proper.[[/note]]. Unfortunately, doing this also relegates your most potent damage dealer to pure support. Also, she turns into [[VisualPun a bird]], making this a literal example of an [[JustForPun early]] '''''[[JustForPun bird]]''''' [[JustForPun boss]].** Another good example of this trope, also from ''Persona 4'', is the optional boss for Yukiko's Castle, the Contrarian King. If you, as many players do, attempt this boss directly after beating the dungeon for the first time, the combination of your relatively low party level, his high HP, and, most importantly, his usage of the ([[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard heavily overpowered]]) Rampage physical attack (hits whole party, three times, for a ton of damage) will generally lead to you being [[TotalPartyKill hideously maimed]]. On the other hand, if you come back after completing the next dungeon, he's a good deal more manageable, though you're still basically fighting the RandomNumberGod and hoping he doesn't Rampage twice.*** Pretty much any BonusBoss that shows up at the end of a dungeon qualifies as this if you don't wait to clear the dungeon afterward before taking on that boss.* The [[AliceAllusion Queen of Hearts]] in ''VideoGame/{{Persona Q}}'' is one, though not nearly as extreme as the above example. At the time you fight here you only have access to either the P3 or P4 cast, meaning only half the game's playable characters. But mainly, you fight her when you have no access to SP restoration, and she has no weaknesses to give you Boost status (no SP cost on your next turn) and that combined with her [[DamageSpongeBoss large amount of HP]] and [[FlunkyBoss summoning Card Soldiers as shields]] can easily lead to you getting worn down if you don't use your attacks wisely. In fact, running you out of resources in a battle of attrition is her main strategy, which wouldn't work nearly as well later in the game.* In the initial versions of ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', Brock can turn into this, especially for players who pick Charmander as their starter, as you have very few options as far as your Pokémon go (your starter and ComMons for the most part), and even fewer able to exploit his weakness. Yellow and Fire Red/Leaf Green both fix this with new additions, such as Mankey, to be found earlier in the game.** Falkner in ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' could be like this, also, as many of the early ComMons were weak against Flying and there are no super-effective attacks to be found unless you do an in-game trade to get an Onix or level-grind a Geodude - and Falkner has Mud-slap for that (super-effective against Rock-types, and screws their accuracy). However he is not as difficult as his predecessor because unlike Rock-types, Flying-type Pokémon are not resistant to Normal-type attacks that will be the majority of the moves in the players arsenal at the time, nor do they have high defensive stats. The best antidote, oddly enough, was to fight his Flying-types with other Flying-types, as they would be able to avoid the (Ground-type) Mud-Slap attack that his Pokémon used.*** And he's still that way in the Gen IV remakes, particularly if you start with Chikorita, which is weak to Flying-types. Then he hauls out his Pidgeotto with constant use of Roost to heal half of his current health points, which makes things even harder. It definitely pays to get the aforementioned Geodude or Onix.** The Striaton Triplets are this in ''Black and White''... no, not because of their elemental monkey, which is basically just a glorified tutorial on compensating for your starter's weaknesses, but their Lilipup. At this point nothing you have access to resists Normal or hits it for super effective damage (barring a ridiculously over-grinded Tepig), and Lilipup happens to have a stat boosting move that can result in a TotalPartyKill if it gets going. Of course, after this gym you have access to Fighting types, which make all future Lilipups a joke. ** Rival battles early in Pokémon games can sometimes tend to lean towards this due to the rival always using whichever starter Pokémon has a type advantage versus the player's starter combined with a lack of wild pokemon of the types the rival's starter is weak against available for the player to catch early in the game, [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard as well as have late and powerful moves for his underleveled Pokemon, like his Gyarados in Lavender Town's Ghost Tower is around level 30 or so and already knows Hydro Pump.]] They were especially hard just because you don't know when or where they are gonna happen (at least the first time you play through) and will probably keep bumping into them at the very worst moments. "Uff, finaly made it out of [[GoddamnedBats Mt Moon]]. Let's go straight to the Pokémon Center... just after exploring this most harmless [[OhCrap bridge to the north]]...".** ''Videogame/PokemonColosseum'' also has Early Birds in the form of Mirror B and Skrub. The first comes after a grueling dungeon and the latter has strong Pokemon. The common factor: ''your'' Shadow Pokemon are locked in the experience levels that you captured them at ''until'' after you defeat Skrub, so Pokemon that seemed good early in Pyrite Town are, well, not at this point. ** Early Bird Bosses tend to be the hardest of all encounters in [[GameMod rom hacks]] designed to be more difficult than the canon games. One such edit pits the player against Falkner, the very first gym leader in the Johto based games, using an entire team of well rounded flying types, with movesets almost appropriate for the end-game. There are only a handful of weak and/slow Pokémon available to use at that point with attacks that will cause heavy damage to flying types.* Spikey Tiger in ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' -- He is the last major boss you have to fight without magic. Magic can be a GameBreaker in this game, but this boss has it and you don't. Magic makes the caster invincible while he is casting, it cannot be dodged or blocked, and it holds the target immobile while it is being damaged. This boss can hop on a ledge where it can't be hurt by anything but a precise arrow shot, then repeatedly cast magic spells consecutively. Since it can't be hurt while it's casting all these spells...better hope it doesn't do that.** ''VideoGame/ChildrenOfMana'' is a cakewalk with only two parts that are remotely challenging, but those can be very tough. Which ones? The last boss and... the first.* In the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series:** The first fight with [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Leon]] in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' comes right before Sora gets the [[UnnecessaryCombatRoll Dodge Roll]] ability that lets the player evade most physical attacks with proper timing. Naturally, most of Leon's arsenal would be ''much'' easier to avoid by rolling than by running around.*** Depending on your weapon choices at the beginning of the game, the player is most likely not going to have Guard (and Counterattack) at their disposal unless they grinded something fierce back on Destiny Islands. Thus, the player will need to [[FearfulSymmetry rely on well-timed attacks to parry/redirect Leon's]] (a skill that helped during the sparring matches on the Islands), all the while employing hit-and-run tactics to prevent themselves from being on the receiving end of his Gunblade: Leon isn't particularly aggressive and [[TheSlowWalk moves around with the urgency of a sloth]], but when he connects, you ''will'' feel it.** The battle against Clayton on the Stealth Sneak applies too, especially if the player hasn't spent much time leveling up. After you defeat him and learn [[DiscOneNuke Cure]], bosses becomes so, much, easier.** Twilight Thorn in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' - again because you don't have magic. Being able to heal or shoot him with Blizzard or Lightning when he's out of reach of your keyblade would be nice.** Twilight Thorn's Heartless brother, Darkside, is far from a pushover on the highest difficulty. On lower ones, the two potions you're likely to have are more than enough to help you survive his attacks, but you'd better try your damned hardest not to get clipped by anything on Proud/Expert mode or you're gonna be in a world of trouble.* The ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series offers quite a lot of early bird bosses:** The first two bosses of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'', the Sergeant and the Adamantoise, have enough Defense to reduce melee attacks to ScratchDamage (if even that).** The Land Turtle and Djinn from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'' DS are fought before the job classes open up.*** However, if you take even a small amount of time fighting mooks and grinding the job level of the starting job, they become very manageable. And considering job levels are grinded by the amount of battle moves used, you can simply sit in a fight against a weak single enemy and just keep guarding it's attacks over and over to bump up that job level quick.** Garula in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV''. At that point, you only have the first six jobs and the first-tier attack and healing spells. Garula can counterattack with ''two'' hits and can use a powerful attack that inflicts Sap, a status that rapidly drains small amounts of HP. While the status is nigh-harmless later in the game with higher HP, at this point in the game Sap is horrifyingly effective and can easily finish off anyone it hits with Charge before you can heal them, especially if they're on the receiving end of ''both'' counterattacks. The difficulty of Garula can be allayed somewhat by using the Knight's Guard and Cover abilities, and totally broken by the Blue Mage's Pond's Chorus/Frog Song, as Garula is susceptible to the Frog status.** The Guardian Beast in ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2 Final Fantasy X-2]]'' is considerably difficult for one of the first bosses encountered in the game. Typically, its difficulty rating will be ''four'' stars out of five. It's a good idea to grind before this fight.** The Lord of the Flowsand in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'' would probably not be so difficult if it weren't fought at a relatively early point in the game where you don't have access to most of the abilities each class can get, mainly due to the RandomlyDrops nature of getting new weapons and armor. A lot of the classes will be off-limits to you at this point, as well -- it's also impossible to have any Seeq or Gria units (both the better direct damage dealers). When you fight the thing again in a latter optional mission, he is much easier despite vastly higher HP and strength.* In the ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series:** Aquamentus in the first game. He takes 6 direct hits with the wooden sword to kill, and he spits energy beams that can't be blocked without the magical shield. Once you've got either the white sword or magical shield beating him becomes easy (having both makes it near effortless), but with the starting equipment he can be pretty tough.** Fraaz, the Snow Temple boss from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'', seems to fit this description, being unusually tough in spite of only being the second boss in the game. Fraaz's attacks increase in frequency as the battle goes on, he can split himself in two, and once he's destroyed the torches in his chamber, you have to run suicidally close to his attacks in order to reflect them and stun him. The player only gets one free heart container before him; it's possible to get more, but they involve scraping up a lot of Rupees and a BossRush challenge.** The [[spoiler:first]] battle with Ghirahim in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' is this trope and a WakeUpCallBoss. When you fight Ghirahim, you only have your default 6 hearts of health and little else in equipment. You'll have to rely on your sword and shield abilities to get past the boss' defenses and know when to strike.* Okku in ''NeverwinterNights2'' ''[[SurprisinglyImprovedSequel Mask of The Betrayer]]'' can approach this if the player is not playing a tank or can't otherwise avoid damage (such as [[GameBreaker hide in plain sight]]), as your only party member is a SquishyWizard who has [[WhatAnIdiot barred conjuration]] (the magic school that allows you to summon disposable meat shields). You can find a GuestStarPartyMember golem to join your party, but while strong enough to help with mooks, it will quickly fall to Okku [[spoiler:(amusingly, Okku can join your party later and be the best tank in the game)]]. You also lack a healer, but as most healing is best done out of combat, this isn't as big an obstacle.* Geyzer of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'' could be seen as this, since you fight him with only two characters, and your levels are likely too low to have any skills capable of making the battle easier. The fact that he hits pretty damn hard when only your main character is likely to have the game's first healing spell doesn't help at all (Yangus ''can'' learn it too, but it requires several points in his Humanity skill, and it's unlikely he'll earn enough for it even if you dump all his skill points into Humanity).* In the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' module ''Keep on the Shadowfell'', Irontooth definitely falls into this category. The fight here is the first experience players have with "waves" of monsters, as to get to Irontooth you need to fight a whole encounter's worth of monsters to get into the lair, and then another whole encounter's worth once there. Parties who know how to marshal their tactics and conserve their resources find this a tough but beatable encounter. Those who just rushed into the lair without taking a short rest or who blow all their abilities before Irontooth shows up 3 rounds in will take a brutal beating, and this is where the majority of [[TotalPartyKill TPKs]] for new parties happen in this module.* ''VideoGame/LostOdyssey'' has the huge gryphon boss at the top of the rainy mountain very early in the game, who ends up being difficult primarily because the player doesn't have access to any decent recovery or defensive skills yet. Magic is the only way to effectively damage him enough to kill him before he kills you; but due to an unfortunate glitch in the programming, he will attack the squishy magic user exclusively until he dies, and returns to attacking him the second you revive him, and if the AIRoulette feels like spamming his attack that hits all characters, it's not very likely you'll win. LevelGrinding is also a bad option, since it doesn't take long for the enemies to start giving only 1 exp a piece, which makes it far too tedious and time-consuming this early in the game.* Infamously, ''house cats'' in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3.5. They are small with high dexterity, thus hard to hit, particularly with a base to hit bonus of one or zero. They pack a decent hide modifier, improved further by the mentioned size and dexterity, meaning they attack first. The high dex then gets them the initiative after the first round when the bastards sneak up on you and you can't attack (so they have 2 free rounds on you). Unless you get max HP at first level, you have little HP and cats (thanks to the rules for natural attacks) get 3 attacks a round, each dealing ScratchDamage (no pun intended) of at least 1 point in a game where commoners with 3 HP at level 1 are lucky and wizards, rogues, and other non-fighter types have barely more than that at level 1.** House cats aside, generally the final opponent of any low-level D&D module will be this trope, due to the fact that most classes will not have much in the way of advanced equipment or class abilities.** House cats are fine for killing off commoners (they have a slight edge on them), but the effect on [=PCs=] is greatly exaggerated. During a surprise round they can only attack once, and their to-hit is, while not bad by any means, in no way guaranteed to hit even a commoner, let alone a PC (even one in basic gear). The only player character they pose a significant threat to is a level 1 wizard (or other very squishy class) with a negative con and dex modifier; even then, if the cat doesn't hit every attack (only about a 30% chance at best), the wizard can still kill it in one hit. It would take incredibly bad luck to die to a housecat at level 1 as any reasonable PC.* ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania 64}}'' features a boss minutes into the game; seriously, you probably won't even have figured out the combat system by the time the fight starts.** Its UpdatedRerelease ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLegacyOfDarkness Legacy of Darkness]]'' is even more guilty. The first boss is a hydra which has attacks that are very difficult to avoid, even if you know what to do. The next few bosses are a lot easier.* The [[BrainInAJar B2]] [[HumongousMecha Brawler]] in ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando'', though optional, is an absolute nightmare when fought with only early-game weapons, (and worse still. there's a [[ThatOneAchievement Skill Point for beating it without taking damage!]]) but falls VERY easily to the stronger ones you get later. The Lock-On mod is also a huge help which, you guessed it, isn't available when you first get to fight the Brawler.* The first ''VideoGame/MegaMan1'' game has an interesting variation on this in the form of the Yellow Devil, which qualifies for this in the entire series, considering that you don't have E-Tanks (VideoGame/MegaMan2), the slide ability (VideoGame/MegaMan3), or the charge shot (VideoGame/MegaMan4) which turns him into ThatOneBoss for the first game, but becomes significantly easier in later games where you have to fight him again.* ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' starts with some empty corridors, followed by a boss battle against Ridley using a portion of his standard attack patterns. You don't have any beams, energy tanks, or even your trusty Morph Ball at this point. While defeating him isn't necessary, trying to dodge his attacks is good practice.** Mogenar of ''MetroidPrime 3'' is one of these, by virtue of him being the first Leviathan guardian. You've only got a scant few energy tanks by this point, and to beat him you need to use Hypermode several times, each time probably eating up a full tank. If you could fight him even a few hours later, when you have access to more tanks, he wouldn't be ThatOneBoss.** The Hive Totem in ''MetroidPrime'' gave many new players more trouble than almost any other boss. It's a stationary mech at one end of the room that periodically releases wasps. The wasps fly in circles around your tiny platform, occasionally stopping to ram you in sync. The room is flooded with GrimyWater, which is almost impossible to get out of once you get knocked in, and the weak point on the boss is only attackable for a few seconds; if you don't realize that it's there ''immediately'', you'll have to fight additional waves of wasps. It wouldn't be such a hard fight if you had ''anything'' but your default Power Beam and 99 energy (and you might get there with even less than that)!** The Alpha Splinter in ''Echoes'', a giant bug that sits in the center of the circular arena you fight him in and lunges at you. It's harder than it sounds, since his jumps are extremely quick, hard to dodge, and take off sizable chunks of health -- and this is a point when you have 99 health and five missiles... if you made it through the five Dark Splinters beforehand without getting hit once. Amusingly, after he TurnsRed and becomes the Dark Alpha Splinter, he actually gets ''easier'', because he stops relying on his charge and instead mixes it up with an incredibly-easy-to-dodge projectile attack.* The first hunter fight in ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' occurs well before Alex Mercer has a chance to upgrade his capabilities; as such, you'll probably have a rough time against them (after you kill one hunter, you gain your first offensive power, the claws; but they are not especially useful against hunters). By endgame, however, you've upgraded yourself so much that they pose only a mild threat.* The Krogan Battlemaster on Therum in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1''. Technically, you can come there later, but Therum is where you recruit [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Liara T'Soni]], so it is a natural first choice. Due to his biotic barrier, high damage shotgun, and ability to come back from the dead unless you burned, iced, melted, or otherwise disposed of his corpse, he is a nightmare for the low level player. Come back after a few missions, though, and he's a cakewalk.** Made even worse by that fight being preceded with a long elevator ride and then an unskippable cutscene, which you have to replay every time you fail to kill the Krogan Battlemaster.* Many, MANY enemies in ''VideoGame/NetHack'' and many other {{Roguelike}}s, by the games' very nature. The early game in ''[=Nethack=]'' is considered far more dangerous than the endgame, because while you aren't facing minotaurs and demons and liches, you ''are'' facing housecats and large dogs who can move faster than you, attack multiple times per round, have good armor class, and may even have more hitpoints than you. The cake goes to the giant ants, though, who [[ZergRush attack in huge swarms]] that all move faster than you and are the statistically most frequent cause of death in the game. Or killer bees, which are the same but trade hit points for poison and being almost impossible to hit. Go Team Ant!* ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' pits you against the Golem for your first boss who is ''ridiculously easy'' even for that part in the game, but then cruelly surprises you with Aztec Falcon immediately after. He moves quickly in a small arena, and his attacks can be pretty hard to dodge, especially when you're still getting used to the game, making it fairly difficult to land any form of a counter-attack with your Z-Sabre, the only weapon in your arsenal that deals moderate damage to him. Add to that the fact that he appears before you have the chance to familiarize yourself with the controls or rank up your weapons, unless you either tell Ciel you won't help the Resistance (giving you the option to go back to the intro stage and grind there) or waste time grinding during that first level (which will ruin your rank). Oh, and speaking of rank, you have to kill him in 1 minute 15 seconds if you want to rescue the reploids in the garbage compactor below the arena, making [[ScratchDamage wearing him down]] with your Z-Buster from a distance a luxury you don't have.* ''VideoGame/MegaManZero 3'' is this for the first boss, no matter which of the 4 available you pick first. Fighting each of them at the end of the game is a cakewalk in comparison due to the player having access to things like a Mid-air jump and elementally enhanced weaponry to do more damage. On top of that, you've got to get through a grueling level of enemies (Again, no powerups like a Mid-Air jump) with maybe 2 or 3 lives to your name to get you through the level and defeat the boss. And if you blow them all, it's back to the beginning of the level.* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'': the Hunter-Chopper is a somewhat easier fight than a Gunship by the numbers, but your encounter with it limits you to only the airboat gun to kill it, and the airboat is tough to maneuver and offers no cover.** [[BossInMookClothing Hunters]] in ''Episode 2''. The first one you encounter is [[HopelessBossFight unkillable]] because you have only the Gravity Gun. The first real fight with them is difficult, with you mostly restricted to plain gunfire for killing them. In the finale, though, Hunters are limited to escort roles, and you're rife with ways to kill them - pulse rifle alt-fires, SMG grenades, the RPG, the crossbow, the ''car''... Ironically, the Gravity Gun is the best choice for killing Hunters, in that physics objects do the most damage next to the rare [=AR2=] Alt-fire, and they can easily sidestep your car.* Depending on the AI Director's mood, Tanks in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' can be this way when it appears while you only have tier 1 guns, which include pistols, pump shotguns, and sub machine guns. It's not impossible to kill a Tank with weak guns, just takes longer and runs greater risk of him [[CarFu throwing a car at your head.]]* The first mission boss Ace Squadron in ''VideoGame/AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar'' can be very frustrating on the first playthrough, since they are pitted against the player as early as in mission 3, long before the player has a chance to unlock a decent plane and money to actually buy it. Additionally, since there are no tutorials in this installment whatsoever, you may not even be fully familiar with the controls and dogfight tactics when you encounter them... in a NewGamePlus, however, these bosses become moderately challenging, at best.* In the ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' series:** The Butcher in the first ''Diablo'' counts as this. Early level players ''will'' get, well, butchered the first time they fight the dude, although fortunately you don't actually have to kill him the first moment you see [[BossRoom his lair]] and you can wait until you're [[LevelGrinding some levels higher]]. He can even be [[HopelessBossFight literally impossible]] for some characters when they first meet him, as he regenerates health too fast to kill.** One of the first uniques in ''VideoGame/DiabloII'' is a shaman who not only can resurrect the Fallen Ones under his command, but can also resurrect the shamans who can resurrect the fallen ones. Upon being defeated, he, like Fire Enchanted monsters, explodes and damages anyone in melee range. Another Fallen unique, Rakanishu, can be this for melee-focused characters who haven't lucked into some Lightning-resist gear.** ''Diablo II's'' Blood Raven is this. Honestly, unless you intend to [[LevelGrinding grind past]] the quest (since it's optional) or play a fully populated game (simulated or actual) from scratch, it's unlikely you'll reach levels high enough to make those level 1 or 6 skills effective enough for Blood Raven nor acquire equipment significantly contributing to survival without twinking, as soon as the quest becomes available. By the time you are able to hire mercenaries without killing Blood Raven, you're probably high enough a level to be on comparable, if not greater footing with her anyway.*** Speaking of the first two dungeons, The Cave in the Cold Plains (not Blood Moor once the Den Of Evil is done) contains a Super Unique archer pack that's Cold Enchanted. Archers generally cause a lot of grief because of their ranged capabilities, but this monster pack multiplies the damage of an already damage-enhanced monster through the use of minions. The Cold Enchanted property further acts as some sort of a force multiplier by allowing all in the pack to deal additional cold damage AND slow their target's movements. This combination makes for an encounter that makes Blood Raven seem like a cakewalk.*** The super unique monster is called Coldcrow. [[TakingYouWithMe Upon death]], she flips you the finger like all Cold Enchanted monsters do, by casting a frost nova that's VERY damaging to characters who haven't been investing significantly in their vitality attribute. Woe to the one who doesn't replenish their HP right before they deal her the death blow.* ''VideoGame/LufiaAndTheFortressOfDoom''. The first real boss (not counting one of the {{Big Bad}}s) has you fighting multiple, upgraded Mooks that you normally wouldn't fight quite yet. A party member joins you as soon as the battle begins, but you are not given the opportunity to get him a full set of armor or put him in the front row (he's a warrior) nor do you have the opportunity to put your mage in the back row (she's in the front, given you only have 2 party members prior to this point). ** On top of this, the first ''Lufia'' game only let you target groups, not individuals. This battle involved four minibosses in a single group; attacks and single-target magic would pick one of them at random as the target. Oh, and the bosses can cast [[AttackReflector Mirror]]. Hope you get lucky.* Knuckles in ''VideoGame/SonicBattle'' is fought with Emerl when he has only a handful of moves and abilities. Although Knuckles turns out to be [[MightyGlacier slow]] and [[StoneWall bulky]], his attack range is ''much'' better than yours at the time and his healing ability is the second best in the game next to Cream's which ''definitely'' makes up for it.* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' opens with a series of headaches: in order to prove yourself worthy of searching for the GECK, not only do you have to make it through a very tough dungeon, filled with enemies that can poison you with a very limited amount of healing items at your disposal, but then you have to defeat a local tough guy at the end. Make it past that? Well congratulations, now you get to go fight geckos... which are no pushovers either.** However, a pacifist can talk their way into being given the key for the door without a fight, though starting as a pacifist out of the gate makes the ''rest'' of the opening this...** The ''real'' early birds [[BossInMookClothing bosses in mook clothing]] in Fallout 2 are the [[RandomEncounter raiders]] between The Den and Modoc – groups of 10+ punks with rifles, handguns and melee weapons, good HP and basic armor while you only have a leather jacket (or leather armor at best) and maybe a .44 revolver able to down 2 raiders a turn if you have maximum agility and some luck with criticals. Not to mention that one would probably be around level 6-8 at this time, which is not much in the ''S.P.E.C.I.A.L.'' system of Fallout.* The Level 7 boss in ''VideoGame/{{Descent}}''. By then, the most powerful weapons you have are only Quad Level 4 Lasers and Homing Missiles, while the boss can TeleportSpam and [[MacrossMissileMassacre massacre you]] with barrages of [[RecursiveAmmo Smart Missiles]], and is backed up by [[DemonicSpiders Homing Missile Hulks and Class 1 Drillers]]. The first boss of ''VideoGame/{{Descent}} II'' also qualifies, although you may already be well-enough armed by then.* In ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'', you fight the first boss before you get even one Biometal.** Ditto in ''Advent''. The ''next'' two bosses also feel like this. The first one because you fight it literally 3 rooms after obtaining your primary biometal, Model A (so new players will still be feeling out the controls). The 2nd boss you have a choice on, but in either case, you'll get to him before you can get your first [[HealThyself subtank]].** In ZX, you have Model X before you even get control of your character. Fighting in your base form would've been impossible, since Vent and Aile lack a gun in that form. Grey and Ashe, however, have to play the entire first stage and beat the first boss in their base form while using only a regular gun...* Fighting Skelter Helter in ''NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'' is literally the first thing you do after the opening cutscene. Hell, the game even tries to ''teach you the controls'' mid-fight. Fortunately, if you've played the first game already and have a good handle on the controls, he shouldn't be too hard...[[ThatOneBoss unless you're fighting on Bitter Mode.]]** The game still goes through the tutorial, even on Bitter, though. This can actually mess players up...* In the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' series:** Devil May Cry 3 features the Hell Vanguard in Mission 2. The real difficulty of this fight is the fact that Dante's not going to be particularly leveled at this point and the Hell Vanguard does have a pretty nice hit to him. That being said, they very quickly become [[DegradedBoss just another enemy, even spawning along other enemies and even along other Hell Vanguards]], as once Dante does re-encounter them, he's got half of hell's arsenal with him and will generally dispatch of them more easily. However, the higher difficulties and Bloody Palace instead turn them into [[BossInMookClothing bosses in mook's clothing]], specially when you have to fight against 3 of them at the same time, as in Bloody Palace.** Devil May Cry 4 features Berial, again in Mission 2. Aside from [[WarmUpBoss Dante]], the player has only fought against Scarecrows until that point. Berial is not only incredibly big and resistant, but has MANY attacks at his disposal, and the lack of upgrades and skills for Nero really turns him into a incredibly hard boss the first time you fight him, even in Human Mode. However, there's a catch to his fight: The houses in the area you fight him give you Green Orbs if they're destroyed, which can be a lifesaver for the newbies.* NinjaGaiden Sigma on PS3 has Doku in chapter 2, who is also a HopelessBossFight. Apart from the fact he wields the [[ArtifactOfDoom Black]] [[{{BFS}} Dragon Sword]], he is more or less the same boss you fight ten chapters later, except you have only a level 1 Dragon Sword and a ''very small'' lifebar at this point, making him extremely difficult (though not impossible) to beat.* The ''BatenKaitos'' series sports two examples:** The Nunkirantula from the first ''BatenKaitos'' game. Only the third boss in the game, he would be cake except you can only fight him with one character, and he frequently buffs his defense, which can really stall the fight when you only have one character. What would normally be an average fight turns into a drawn-out slugfest as you gradually whittle down his HP. With only one character, you're entirely reliant on luck to get healing items, and if all your healing items get shuffled to the bottom of your deck, then you're just screwed.** Giacomo in ''BatenKaitos: Origins''. His main attacks hit ''hard'', easily taking out half of Sagi or Guillo's health as well as knocking them down for long periods of time, and his special, Thrashingale, can take off half to two-thirds of your health ''by itself''. Since ''Origins'' is NintendoHard, that's all to be expected. However, he's the ''second boss'', so you have three specials, no EX Combo options, and a sparse handful of weak weapons. Just to top it off, your healing options are limited to Low Potions, which are already becoming borderline-useless. It's telling that when Giacomo returns later in the game for rematches, [[VillainForgotToLevelGrind he's actually pretty easy]].* In WorldOfWarcraft, Lord Godfrey in the normal mode of Shadowfang Keep has all the abilities his Heroic counterpart does. These include putting a Curse on the party that must be interrupted, dispelled, or healed through (when it's highly unlikely that players have abilities, or are familiar with them, to interrupt spells or remove curses), summoning adds mid-battle, and firing a Pistol Barrage that essentially kills anyone who stands in it for more than a second or two. These are all abilities that bosses generally don't use until later. However, [[TropesAreNotBad these actually do acquaint new players with a taste of what will come later]].** His predecessor, prior to being nerfed, was potentially worse. He had high HP, indefinite mana, teleported about the room, mind-controlled party members, and was capable of dealing upwards of 600 unmitigated damage per void bolt every 1.5 seconds. He was a threat to parties up to 8 levels higher then he was, unless they were extremely well geared and skilled. If not for dropping some of the best caster gear for a long time, most people would've rather just skipped him. And this was back when Rare quality items were just that, you were lucky to have uncommon gear with reasonable stats (mostly just Spirit and stamina though). Starting characters in the game now have it much easier in many ways.* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'', Cedric could be considered one. Other than Richard, none of your characters likely have any blast calibers of their own and he has his... as much of a letdown as his blast caliber is.* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' has you fight the Asylum Demon before you've fought anything except unarmed, non-aggressive Hollows, and you don't even have a proper weapon yet. Fortunately, you can escape the first time, collect a weapon and shield, and fight it again, but it ''has'' to be killed before you can progress any further.** Your starting build also has a major impact on the fight, given that you can't level up or access merchants prior to entering Lordran. For example, if you choose Knight you're stuck with either your load-bearing armor crippling your dodging abilities (and no way to grind for much-needed Endurance) or your exposed, emaciated zombie flesh. But if you pick Black Firebombs as the starting gift, you can use them to easily kill the boss [[SequenceBreaking during the first encounter]]. Doing so nets you the demons hammer.* Part of what makes Matador ThatOneBoss of ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'' is the fact that you fight him fairly early on, at a time when you might not have any demons that resist or nullify Force element spells. In addition, you may not have any spells that heal the entire party yet, which is needed to survive his Andalucia attack. And you only gain access to the Demon Compendium (which makes fusing demons much easier) in the area ''immediately after'' him.* A lot of the early bosses in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' games owe their difficulty to the fact that your roster may be lacking their MidseasonUpgrade, or upgrades to their stats and weapons, or Spirits (self-buffs) that allow your units to dodge/tank attacks better.** Defeating a boss often nets you a bonus item or completes a secondary objective for unlocking a secret. This would be easy except that they also tend to flee when their health gets low. Early in the game, most pilots lack the Valor/Hot Blood spirit, which doubles the next hit's damage, so this ends up being quite tricky.* Unless you choose Chill Penguin's stage for your first area in ''VideoGame/MegaManX1'', you'll have to fight at least one boss without the dash ability. Not a pleasant experience.* Strangely for a simulator game, ''MechWarrior 3'' has two. Towards the end of campaign one, the player will be in a medium 'Mech, and tasked with attacking and killing an [[JackOfAllStats Orion]], which has half again their weight on them. The addition of an ally in that mission helps, but the Orion has two cronies of similar weight to your ally. Oh, and the Orion has both long range missiles ''and'' a powerful close range gun that often knocks down targets. Even kiting away the minions doesn't keep you from getting pummeled by the Orion in the meantime.** The second comes at the end of campaign two. The game's first assault 'Mech appears as a boss, fighting you and two allies in a tightly enclosed underground space. This boss has ''[[MoreDakka four]]'' of the aforementioned powerful guns with knockdown capability and can easily chew up your allies or you in one or two salvos. Worse still, if you decide to throw everyone at the behemoth, appropriately named the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Annihilator]], you'll discover there are two Pumas with him. Pumas are small GlassCannon designs, but they like to get into your rear quadrant to attack the lighter rear armor.** Both the Orion and the Annihilator go from nervewracking boss battles to the DegradedBoss later on, as the player gathers more 'Mechs and weapons that can face them. It gets to the point that the game will put together three or four Annihilators and expect the player to defeat them.* In ''VideoGame/HeavyWeapon'', it's '''[[WarmUpBoss Twinblade]]''' that's this in the [[BossRush Boss Blitz]] mode. To put it, you (probably) got at least one power, rapid fire, SpreadShot, and some Nuke and Shield upgrades during the first level before fighting it in campaign mode. In Boss Blitz, you don't do the level and thus you fight it with only one level of shield, and nothing else whatsoever. If you can't [[MisguidedMissile makes its missiles misfire]] or shoot them down in time, you're toast in ''2'' hits.* If you have the Slingshot DLC for ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'', you will encounter Mutons with full Plasma Rifles well before you get the Laser Rifles and Carapace Armour you usually need to take them down reasonably.* The Minotaur of ''Kid Icarus: Of Myth And Monsters'', whose main difficulty comes from having a greater range of attack than Pit without upgrades, which he is unlikely to have when you reach him. At best, you can have one that will be lost with a single hit.* Tarnesh in ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' is a level 5 mage you fight at a point in the game where you, barring SequenceBreaking, are still level 1 and therefore guaranteed to die to his third spell (a triple magic missile), have never fought a mage before, and have at most four party members with their starting equipment. You meet more higher-level mages with scarier spells scant hours later, but beating Tarnesh at that stage of development is more or less a LuckBasedMission: If he gets to this third spell (which he will always aim at the main character), you're dead.* Magus in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' is an unusual example in that he comes in in the middle of the game rather than near the beginning, and is in fact a ClimaxBoss, but he still qualifies. He's the TropeNamer for BarrierChangeBoss, and defeating him requires relying on elemental magic (specifically, hitting him with the magic he's using). However, if you aren't in a NewGamePlus and haven't engaged in serious LevelGrinding, then by the time you meet him, your magical abilities are likely to still be a bit underdeveloped and you'll probably lack the devastatingly-powerful [[CombinationAttack Double Techs]] that you develop later in the game, making for a challenging fight.* Smouldergeist(s) in VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam. Later in the game when you have hammers, bros attacks, badge effects and good items, these creatures would be insanely easy to beat due to low health. As the first boss? Not so much, especially given how you need to dodge their attacks successfully to even make possible to hit due to them being covered in flames and you having no way of damaging enemies you can't jump on. Although to be fair, jumping on them WILL extinguish the flames and only deal you 1 HP of damage.** Dreamy Mario is this [[TheSmaeButMore even more so]], you have no real opportunities to level grind so you'll at most be fighting him at a single level higher than when you faced Smouldergeist. However, unlike the first boss which has simple, easy to dodge patterns so you can get used to the controls, Dreamy Mario doesn't hold back. He has seven times the HP that Smouldergeist had and hits harder, he created a bunch of clones of himself, and you have to hit the real one. Hit a clone and it'll fly up and launch at you with a meteorite attack that is fairly difficult to dodge. You also have to only jump on the real one when they ZergRush you, and avoid them entirely during the GetBackHereBoss segment since they're invincible (while not getting confused by the purple cloud created to obscure vision). And just like in the previous boss battle, you have no weapons except the basic jump attack. He also serves as a WakeUpCallBoss, letting you know you're in for a NintendoHard world of hurt if you don't master the gameplay. This battle would be made much easier with a Luiginary attack where you could hit both the clones and the original at the same time, as well as deal tremendous damage, but all you have to rely on are jumps.* Wendigo in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiDevilSurvivor''. He's Level 17 when your characters are lucky to be Level ''Eight'', deals 50 damage with his regular attack (while your characters barely have 100 HP), and has a multi-hit ice attack. He's also flanked by two Moh Shuvuu, which give him a massive movement radius. You do have a place to grind, but it rapidly becomes ineffective. And you don't get access to Demon Fusion until after you kill him... in a game where Demon Fusion is vital to have any sort of power.* ''Videogame/YuGiOhReshefOfDestruction'' has Rebecca Hawkins, who appears in the very beginning when your cards are even more limited than usual.* ''Videogame/DonkeyKong64'' has Army Dillo the first boss. Sure, he's not exactly difficult but given that you only have one melon of health, and this is your first boss battle of any kind (there are no mini-bosses you face beforehand, you need Lanky to fight the level's only mini-boss), this battle can definitely feel like this. He's much easier in the world 6 rematch despite learning new movies because you have three melons and can take 12 hits instead of 4.* ''VideoGame/YuGiOhTheDuelistsOfTheRoses'' has Rex Raptor. He's fought on the Wasteland terrain, which increases his monsters' strength by 500 points. At this point in the game, the only other opponent you'd be able to defeat would be Weevil, whose forest creatures are weakened by Wasteland terrain. If you start with Fairy King Trusedale, whose deck is almost all insects, your only hope is judicious use of the Forest magic card and Acid Trap Hole. On later tries Rex isn't nearly as bad when you have more variety in monsters.* Averted with Roland in ''VisualNovel/FleuretBlanc''. Unlike every other member, he starts with only one technique, and [[MirrorMatch it's the exact same one as yours]]. This doesn't prevent him from being a WakeUpCallBoss for a lot of people, though.** Played straight with Le Neuvieme. There are a number of good techniques to use against him (Stoic can prevent him from getting ahead in style points through Balestra, and his own Balestra is a good counter to Broken Time) but you don't get access to them until after his trophy bout.----